This tree comes from China, Japan and other Far Eastern countries. It tolerates shade very well, loves the presence of lime, alkali and acid in the soil. Watering is needed only for young trees during their rapid growth, while the grown plants are famous for their drought tolerance. Yew rarely grows above 20 meters, but it is a long-liver: its average age is almost a thousand years. The methods of planting it are seeds and cuttings (it can be very small, and already slightly woody).
Pointed yew is a coniferous evergreen tree that belongs to the yew family. In the wild, there are few large specimens: they grow to a maximum of 6 meters. It should be said that this yew is listed in the Red Book of Primorsky Krai and the Red Book of the Sakhalin Region.
You can also find a shrub (creeping) - this type is rarely seen in the pointed yew. Its crown keeps an oval shape, the branch is horizontal (relative to the earth's surface), and the bark of a 1-meter trunk is reddish-brown in color. The tree has needles that are flat, in the form of sickles, with a small thorn at the top. The needles themselves are green (dark in color) on the top and slightly lighter on the bottom, 2.5 millimeters long and about 3 millimeters wide. The nature gave the root system to the pointed yew tree strong. It is shallow, the taproot is not sharply expressed, however, the tree is provided with the necessary resistance to wind. On the roots, offspring are formed with mycorrhiza appearing soon.
Like any gymnosperm plant, the pointed yew has female and male sporophylls. Male (microsporophylls) have the shape of a ball. Their habitat is the tops of last year's shoots, where they are in the form of a kind of spikelets hidden in the leafy sinuses. Female sporophylls (megasporophylls) are single ovules and “live” at the very top of the shoots.
Yew seeds have an ovoid flat (oval-elliptical) shape, they are brown in color, 4-6 mm long and 4.5-4 mm wide. The month of their ripening is September. True, solid harvests can be expected no more than once every 5-7 years. The wood (perfectly amenable to polishing) of pointed yew is highly valued: beautiful furniture and various joinery products are made from it. But this type of yew is listed in the Red Book, so they rarely work with it.
Since the tree is very beautiful, it will be a godsend for a variety of plantings when planning landscapes - both individually and in groups. The yew tree has an increased endurance of the shade, so the shaded areas of gardens and park areas can become its "home". In addition, the crown of this tree is beautifully shaped.
Attention! The spiky yew has poisonous needles! Slightly sweet in taste, edible seed grape (fleshy, bright red) is sometimes called by mistake a berry. But it is the seeds that contain the poisonous substances.
Pointed yew Taxus cuspidata "Nana" (variety "Nana")
This is the name of the shrub. It is evergreen, the shape of the crown is irregular, the needles are dense, dark green. It is perfectly processed by the so-called topiary shearing, when shrubs and trees are given a specially selected shape with a garden pruner. He is especially suited to the shapes of balls, pyramids and cones.
"Nana" is a slow-growing (and even very) variety, which is why it is better to plant it in a rock garden, on a rocky hill, or use it as a curb. The maximum height of "Nana" is only 1.5 meters, for a year it grows no more than 5 cm. It looks beautiful on roofs intended for landscaping, terraces. It is also great in the form of a hedge. It can be grown in containers and combined with deciduous trees to create a landscape. Also, this tree is resistant to wind and frost and undemanding to soil.
